Fill Me Up
Spir-IT, part 3 of 6
As we seek to understand the Holy Spirit and how He works in our lives, there is something that is fundamental to the way He interacts with us. That is namely, that for us to experience the Holy Spirit as fully as possible, we must be filled with Him or filled with the Holy Spirit. Often people pray “God, give me more of your Holy Spirit.” But in reality God is given us all of the Holy Spirit we will ever need at the moment we believe in Jesus Christ. A more accurate prayer would be “Lord, I give more of myself over to the Holy Spirit.”. This is the process of being filled with the Holy Spirit. It is a continuous process of surrender that allows us to be filled up with Him and live a Spir-It filled life. We will look at ways to live this incredible lifestyle in our everyday activities.
Download the notes.“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit.”
(Ephesians 5:18, NIV)
I) THE HOLY SPIRIT: FILLING OUR EMPTINESS What it means to be “Spirit-Filled”:
1) “Spirit-filled” isn’t the same as __becoming a christian__.
“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body— whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free— and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”
(1 Corinthians 12:13, NIV)
2) “Spirit-filled” isn’t the same as ___being charismatic___.
“Is everyone an apostle? Of course not. Is everyone a prophet? No. Are all teachers? Does everyone have the power to do miracles? Does everyone have the gift of healing? Of course not. Does God give all of us the ability to speak in unknown languages?… No!”
(1 Corinthians 12:29-30, NLT)
3) “Spirit-filled” is _being controlled_ by the Spirit’s power.
“Let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.”
(Ephesians 5:18b, NLT)
II) THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE “IT” FACTOR
* People who have “IT” consistently ___yield to___ the Spir-IT’s power.
“…keep being filled by the Spirit.”
(Ephesians 5:18b, literal translation)
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…”
(Acts 1:8a, NIV)
III) YIELDING TO THE HOLY SPIR-IT’S POWER Three Essentials For Being Filled By The Spir-IT
(from 1 Corinthians 2-3)
1) _Knowing_: God wants to fill us w/ His Spir-IT completely.
“But we know these things because God has revealed them to us by his Spirit… No one can know what anyone else is really thinking except that person alone, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world’s spirit) so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.”
(1 Corinthians 2:10-12, NLT)
“We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
(Acts 19:2b, NIV)
2) _Discerning_: God fills people who seek His Spir-IT wisely.
“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. We who have the Spirit understand these things, but others can’t understand us at all. How could they? For, ‘Who can know what the Lord is thinking? Who can give him counsel?’ But we can understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”
(1 Corinthians 2:14-16, NIV & NLT)
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you whom you have received from God?”
(1 Corinthians 6:19, NIV)
3) _Growing_: God fills people who conform to His Spir-IT (godly).
“Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you, I couldn’t talk to you as I would to mature Christians. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk and not solid food, because you couldn’t handle anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your own sinful desires… You are acting like people who don’t belong to the Lord.”
(1 Corinthians 3:1-3, NLT)
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.”
(Romans 8:29a, NIV)